RWBY-100
by SpectreDan
Summary: Hope seems to be a rare commodity in Remnant; even the Huntsmen and Huntresses training in Beacon Academy are dealing with a large sum of troubles both internally and externally. That's certainly true for two of the new students, Ruby Rose and Blake Belladonna. How might their lives change when Mob and Reigan Arataka quite literally bump into their lives? Merged universe AU.


**A/N:** It's been awhile since I've posted... well, anything. So, if you happen to be reading this, welcome. This is the grand reopening of my profile here, so I hope you enjoy this little project put together by myself and my close friend Knell13. We've worked together on a few other fics posted on his page, and this one will be on mine. Feel free to look up RWBY Tail or A Certain Magical Remnant for other crossovers we've done together.

We write these fics collaboratively, each of us taking the viewpoints of certain characters listed below.

**Characters I write:** Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna, most of the RWBY cast.

**Characters he writes:** Mob, Reigan Arataka, Glynda Goodwitch, Ozpin, other Mob Psycho 100 characters.

And with that out of the way, enjoy.

* * *

Espers. The users of Psionics.

Long believed to just be a myth, Espers are scattered all across the world of Remnant, using abilities that could only be described as unreal even by semblance standards.

Thought to be descended from a common ancestor, they've all inherited a version of Psionics.

Telekinesis.

Telepathy.

Teleportation.

Psychic barriers.

Super Reflexes.

Hyper Intuition.

These are just a few of the many powers that wielders of Psionics are gifted with. And while they are mainly shrouded in mystery, there is one such Esper who will be the focus of this story.

His name?

"Oi, Mob. Today's your first day at school, isn't it?" A man with orange hair said as he spun his chair around, eyeing the younger boy. "Shouldn't you be heading over there now?"

"The Bullhead doesn't leave for another hour." The young boy with a black bowl cut said. "It'd look weird if I was the first one there. I'm not particularly that excited to go to a school like that. You told me that I shouldn't use these powers to hurt others after all."

"Eh don't worry about it! It's a good place to channel your powers productively. You'll be able to take out Grimm and help people."

"Help people." Mob repeated, a sparkle in his eye. "I do like the sound of that."

"Then get going already! And don't worry about not being able to work with me. I'm moving my business to Vale! That way you can still join me on jobs."

"I'd like that a lot, Master." Mob said before giving the older gentleman a bow and leaving through the door.

"I worry about that kid sometimes." The man said before rummaging through his desk and pulling out a scroll. "Now then. I guess I should get ready to move."

Mob was nervous. Really nervous. He was stuck on a crowded airship with a bunch of strangers. He didn't do good in situations like this.

15%

Not to mention that people weren't coming close to him and he knew why. All his life he had given off a unique aura. An aura that no one could describe. Unlike most people, whose aura's flickered like a flame. His was a column of energy, illuminating everything around him.

The ringing of his scroll made him jump.

"Y-Yes?" He answered hesitantly.

"Oi, Mob."

"M-Master!"

"Relax."

"Huh?"

"I know you get stressed in situations like that. I'm telling you to relax. It's gonna be fine. Take a deep breath."

And that's when Mob realized he hadn't been breathing and inhaled sharply before exhaling.

"Better?"

"Better."

"Good."

Soon enough the ship landed and Mob stumbled out of the hellish nightmare and onto the safety of the ground. He was so excited to be out of the ship that he didn't watch where he was going and slammed right into a girl wearing white and black.

"Ah! I'm sorry!" He apologized by reflect. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

18%

* * *

Why did she have to take that job in the Move-In crew? A certain dark haired Huntress-In-Training with red highlights framing the tips of her ear-length locks found herself wondering why her sister couldn't have been with her there today.

Perhaps it was a bit selfish, yes. Yang had gotten that job offer long before Ruby had gotten the early invite to the school. But, truth be told? Skipping two grades wasn't exactly all that's cracked up to be. Ruby had been QUITE busy over the last month of summer, reading over textbooks, finishing some last minute repairs on her sniper-scythe, and training out in the woods.

Headmaster Ozpin may have allowed her in to Beacon at 15 years of age instead of 17, but that just meant she had two years less experience than anyone else there. As she stumbled meekly along the bullhead, trying and utterly failing to avoid the much taller men and women scattered around her. She'd bumped into so many people and apologized so frequently, she was beginning to wonder whether people would think her name was Sorry.

"It'd be so much easier with Yang here," she muttered to herself, plopping down in a corner and unceremoniously wrapping herself up tighter in the pure white cloak wrapped around her slim frame. She even popped the hood up, darkening the upper portion of her face.

She didn't want to be seen by anyone, not at the moment.

If Yang were here, though. At least she'd know someone. She'd have someone to talk to. And you might ask, Ruby, why not try and speak to someone else? You're a fine young woman with a cheerful personality, who wouldn't want to talk to you? A great deal of people, apparently.

She'd already tried to talk to someone new, an older boy with a greatsword sheathed over his back. It had the raddest, gnarliest design ever, like it was made of living flames. She'd caught a glimpse out of the corner of her eye when he was showing it to one of his friends who sported a set of dual shotgun-shortswords sheathed at his hips. And she had to say, holy heck those were cool too. She knew a bit about shotgun branches of weapons thanks to her uncle and sister, but never had she seen anyone work them into weapons that could be wielded so swiftly and with one hand each.

Of course, when she tried to talk about the traits of their weapons, she ended up saying a bit too much. Must've somehow disturbed them with how she could tell from just a glance how old the weapons were and what material they were made from. Or maybe it was her pointing out the design flaws that got them turning from her in disgust.

What? It was constructive criticism! She was just trying to help them. Yeah, fireswords were cool and all, but they're also really fragile, and unless the guy applied a few coats of buffer every month, his weapon would probably break. Not to mention the dust cost was killer. As for the shotswords, their issue was definitely the recoil. With the way the muzzle was facing, in the same direction as the sword tip, every shot from the shotgun part would cause slashes to go in wild directions if he didn't tough out the recoil. It was wasted energy. Adding a gun mode onto a weapon wasn't just to make it cooler, it was to increase your combat options. But his only seemed to limit his options to ranged or melee, not a fusion of both.

Maybe she should just... not talk to anyone.

"It's like Signal all over again, Mom," she muttered low, gently caressing the silver rose emblem holding her cloak together. The cloak that her mother had once worn when she started at Beacon so long ago. Despite her disappearance ten years ago, Ruby never truly believed she was gone. She was with her, somehow. Watching over her.

And wearing that cloak, wrapped tight around her like that... it felt like her mom was giving her a warm bear hug. All she needed now was one of Summer's amazing cookies and she'd be set. Those cookies could cure any frown or melancholy, no matter how strong.

* * *

_It had to be a bullhead..._ an older girl with skin as pale as snow and hair as black as the night sky thought to herself as she looked out the window. Just the word alone reminded her of _him_.

She'd left to try and get away from him. Away from what he did. Away from his words. Away from his deeds. Away from his effect on her.

_Yeah, just keep saying it and maybe you'll believe it,_ came the more cynical side of her thoughts. _You can't just ignore it, Blake. You did what you did not because Adam told you. But because you wanted to. You enjoyed it, and you won't let yourself forget it._

If only her thoughts would just shut the fuck up and leave her in peace.

_Can't run away from your own mind._

High heeled boots tabbed at the metallic floor of the transport as she kept her amber eyes trained on the outside world, clouds and tiny little expanses of land whizzing past. But she was up over a thousand feet in the air. How could she not stop remembering that moment on the train?

And the look of... genuine hurt on his face when she cut the cables and left with that dust supply.

_It was for a good cause,_ she tried to tell herself. She needed that dust, needed the money it would make her to truly get away. She'd pay the exam fees, get into Beacon, and finally put that wretched past of hers behind her with her own two hands, no matter how slick with blood those hands were.

* * *

A wave of relief struck the amber eyed girl as she finally made her way off the bullhead. She had finally left the wretched machine, and with that her memories of that man retreated into the lockbox she kept every little piece of pain and sorrow bottled up in. _But you won't get him out of your head forever, Blake... he has a way of always coming back._

And didn't she know it. Wished she didn't, but that was how it always went. He always knew where to find her when she wanted to be alone...

She shook her head and adjusted the ribbon resting atop her hair. It was tight and sweaty underneath there, but at least those ears were hidden. Her Faunus trait, cat ears. Ears that she had once displayed with pride alongside her partner's bull horns. The sign of her heritage that she tried to smother so that she could live a normal, good life. Away from their influence.

So focused on her thoughts as she was, she didn't even sense the young boy walking behind her, nor really react until he bumped right into her.

His sudden contact briefly startled her, and instincts nearly kicked in, her fingers brushing just barely against the handle of her sheathed katana. But when she turned to face her 'attacker' and realized it was but an apologetic boy, she calmed down. Even flashed him a small smile.

"Ah."

Mob's eyes widened upon making contact with the black haired girl with pale skin and yellow eyes. Maybe it was her small smile or maybe it was the way the wind caused her hair to flow majestically, but he felt his heart skip a beat. It'd been five years since he felt this emotion toward a girl. The last one had rejected him. But to think that someone this pretty was in the same grade as him. That was too good to be true!

"It's okay," she answered him, her voice low and non-committal, a tone that had been so ingrained to her by _him_ that she hadn't even bothered to drop it when she left. "I wasn't paying attention, I should've moved. You're fine, kid."

"No, no!" He exclaimed. "It's not your fault at all! It's definitely mine! S-Someone as pretty as you couldn't do anything wrong-" He trailed off as he realized what he had said.

25%

"I mean. Just look at me. I'm a loser. A nobody. It's no big deal."

Mob was in a predicament now. Affection was the one emotion that he failed at locking away and it always took control of him when he least expected it.

In the end, all he could do was just glance at the ground awkwardly. Nothing that popped into his head proved useful here.

_W-What?_

What did that boy just say?

_No, you must've heard him wrong. he wouldn't. No. he couldn't-_ The cynical side seemed to be winning for a moment before the raven haired girl's lighter emotions managed to sweep her off her feet.

_That boy just told you he thought you were pretty. Genuinely. With real affection and emotion._ Which, truth be told, was simultaneously amazing and scary. For a brief moment, her mask of indifference melted and she cracked the start of a wide, welcoming smile, only to immediately freeze and tighten her lips.

Some part of her wanted to believe that this was true, genuine attraction. Like what she used to have with _him_ when they were young. But old emotions were hard to keep buried, and before she could even try to acknowledge his words, she locked those warm thoughts away. What was the point? She'd done... horrible, terrible things. Even if she did find this boy rather cute herself, he was... He was too good for her. He was apologetic, kind. And his simple gaze betrayed a deep sense of emotion.

She knew that look. Trying and failing to keep it all bottled up. If he was trying to bottle affection, chances were he was trying to bottle something else, too. Gods know she was bottling up more than one thing herself.

But he looked so... sad. And those words that he was calling himself... _Sounds like you._

* * *

_"I don't know if I can do it, Adam!" a younger, fourteen year old Blake with her hair cut short and ears drooped over in sorrow, leaned up against the older man, cuddling into his chest. Dried tears stained her pale cheeks and his dark shirt, but he stood there, impassive._

_"I mean, Just look at me. I'm a murderer. A monster. I killed that man in cold blood!" She was angry. Angry that he'd dared spit in Adam's face. That loathsome worker, he had no right to treat her darling like dirt! But slitting his throat... She had gone too far then._

_But Adam... he had a way of making you seem like the most important person in the world. And that influence he used to great effect on Blake, though she would only come to realize it later._

_"You did what you had to," he had said. "It was a message not to mess with our kind." "He was going to be killed by the leader anyway, but you had the honor of ending that sack of shit yourself." Yes, he would twist her mind, tell her that what she did was just. That what she did was for the greater good. That it proved her love for him._

_And she believed him. Like the sorry fool she was._

* * *

Perhaps that's why she reached out and gently grasped him by the shoulder, rubbing her thumb along the edge of his clavicle in a calming gesture. "Hey... I don't think you're a loser. I think you are a fine young man with manners, something that is unfortunately lost this day and age," she started, mentally flashing back to that blonde haired dunderhead with the greatsword that bumped into her on the bullhead.

"And don't be so hard on yourself. You made it into Beacon and that's something you should be proud of." Oh, right. Chastising someone out of the blue was a bit rude, and hypocritical with how much she was promoting good manners. "My name's Blake... What's yours?"

_She's hiding something._ Mob thought to himself as she told him such nice things. He could see it. That look of deep sadness in her eyes for the briefest of moments. _She's in pain. So much pain._

30%.

But he could dwell on that later. She was trying to make conversation with him.

"It's very nice to meet you, Blake." He said as he gave her a bow. "I'm Shigeo, though most people call me Mob."

"Mob," she muttered, repeating it to herself. It was simple, she liked it. Maybe that's what she first saw in the boy, simplicity. But those eyes... something about his blank stare hid so much... more. As a young girl, she used to love puzzles. _Mom would always save the newspapers after she read it, so you could do the crosswords... Why'd you stop?_

She knew why she stopped. Adam.

_Spending your time on those silly things wastes your energy. The only thing useful about a newspaper is the front page. If you're not on it, you aren't worthy enough._

Why did his voice have to come so readily to her? _You left to escape his influence... but you were well aware just how much it would affect you._ It... wasn't her first time trying to run. She'd actually caught a ferry all the way to Vale once when she was fifteen.

_That was the first time you saw that Huntsmen... He had this odd name... Huh... why'd you forget it? It's only been two, two and a half years maybe?_ Even though she eventually returned home, to the White Fang and Adam, it was her first taste of something new. That there could be more in life than all the destruction she had caused.

_Focus on him,_ she told herself. _He deserves that much. Look at how happy he looks, just talking to you. Adam was never like that. He didn't like to... talk. He had... other things he liked to do._

She shook those thoughts from her head. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Mob. Did you, uhm..." Gods, why was it so difficult for her to ask him? "Would you like to sit down for a bit? We have... we have time before we're needed in the school."

"Only if you tell me why you're so sad." He said bluntly as he gazed at her, not wanting to let her suffer anymore. "Master told me that if I ever see someone's eyes betray their face that I should do everything I can to help."

His glare was intense, but soft. More worried than angry.

Master Reigen had been there for him when he was convinced that the world didn't want him.

Perhaps… Perhaps he could be there for this girl.

"He also told me that the best thing a boy can do for a girl is to make her smile. So if I can help you in any way, I will."

That's why he wanted to become a Huntsman. Not because he wanted to kill Grimm or because he wanted to become some celebrity.

But because he wanted to make people feel safe.

_What._

Different this time around, more of a sudden, hard stop. Like when you rip the needle off a record player and the song immediately cuts off.

She looked at him with furrowed brow, amber eyes alight with a mix of curiosity and astonishment. "How did you...?" This... genuine care, this genuine worry for her safety was... Startling. New. Something she only really saw in her parents when she was younger. Before the Fang took her in. Before she was raised as their assassin.

And in that one moment, with Mob's intense desire to make her smile, everything she had ever known shattered. It was so simple, yet so profound. Small things, things she never would have noticed that she was still doing, immediately relaxed. Her ears, always pitched up and ready for danger, slipped into a more comfortable position, stretching the limits of her bow. Her straight backed posture, drilled into her by Adam, slumped ever so slightly. That pathological need to speak in a monotone all but left her. And she finally struck a full, honest smile for perhaps the first time in years.

It was like taking a breath after holding it in for so long.

"Not right here," she answered him, her tone still serious, but almost... playful? It was odd, hearing her own voice in such an unfamiliar way. Glancing around, she noticed a bench just out of the way enough that nobody seemed to be trying to rest by it. It was on the other side of the path they were supposed to be taking, too. Out in the open, but quiet. _The perfect place to exchange secret information._

Arguably one of the good things the White Fang taught her. Going out of the way to meet in obscure places only made your secrets less secret. The best way to hide a secret was to tell it in the open.

Silently, she led him over to the bench and sat down, spreading her legs perhaps a bit more than Adam's prim and proper training would have preferred, but it was far more comfortable. She slumped forward, elbows on her knees, and rubbed her fingers together nervously.

"Mob... I'm going to share with you something about me and my past that I don't want anyone else to know, not right now." There was a certain musicality in the way she spoke, a simple rhythm that was once hidden by her feigned indifference. Could this be.. happiness? No, happiness was the warm glass of milk her mother would leave her. Satisfaction? No, that was the knowledge that she'd done a job well. Relief? Yes... perhaps that. It was a weight lifted, and the lilt in her voice reflected that. "Let me start at the beginning..."

40%

Every word she spoke felt like a hammer beating on Mob's heart. Again and again. The sorrow in her voice as she recounted her torturous days. How her childhood had been ripped away from her. How her ideals had been tainted.

60%

He wanted to look away. He wanted to block out her words. But he couldn't. Though it was clear that speaking about such things was a relief to her, he knew it must have also been painful for her.

80%

But this wasn't enough. He wanted to help her more. He wanted her to know that he understood. That he knew at least a fraction of the pain she was feeling.

95%

His aura began to pick up. Softly at first, before growing in intensity as his hair began to spike ever upwards. His features become more defined as his eyes focused on her.

"You're not alone."

100% Friendship.

"We can be friends if you like."

All at once, images from his past would flood into her mind. Images of him accidentally hurting his younger brother with his powers. Him sealing away his emotions in a bid to stop himself from hurting others. Being called an emotionless monster as a result. How he felt all alone in the world. How he couldn't relate to others. How he just wanted friends. How he just wanted to be normal. His longing for acceptance. And how he finally met Reigen, the first person to show him genuine kindness.

_"Mob, what's important is being a good person."_

As she told her life story, she felt a slight, ever so small blip on her mental radar. While she had certainly relaxed her guard, the unfortunate benefit of being a Cat Faunus was the sensory abilities, which tied a little into her skill at detecting Aura. She wrote it off as nothing important until she heard Mob speak, his words sounding altogether more confident and _different_.

When she turned to him, she was nearly blasted by the force of his power, the flowing green aura radiating from him. She couldn't even think, couldn't even fathom she sheer volume of energy burning inside his soul. Could she really be sitting so close to him without feeling her own skin flake and burn? She actually felt... fine.

Odd.

All at once, thoughts were not her own, memories that were not hers bombarded her. A shot of a dark shadow standing over a dark haired boy. A shot of schoolboys teasing her. A plain looking older man with orange hair radiating a wonderful smile. But what stood out was the jeering and leering. The cries of "_You monster,"_ the fists and feet that flew in her...? his...? their direction.

It took a few moments for her to realize that she was, somehow, reliving his memories alongside him, in a way, like she had just relived her own memories with him verbally. All of his high points, all of his low points, all revealed without a single care to hide.

It was true honesty and... vulnerability.

_He has so much power, but he uses this power... to show me himself? Adam would…_

A wave of emotion struck her, perhaps one of the strongest Mob had felt in his life. Like his own mind had been shattered through just the work of one person. That orange haired man appeared again, who she knew as Reigen, and the words he said struck her to the core.

_"Mob, what's important is being a good person."_

When his power faded, Blake felt a few streaks of wetness dripping down her cheeks. Tears? _When did you start... Or.. are they even yours?_

"Mob..." Her voice quivered, and she slowly turned to him. "How... how did you manage all of that? Could it really just be due to what your master..." Words weren't enough. Adam was certainly a fan of physical contact, but there was one thing he was never an active participant in, one thing that she wanted to do for Mob.

She hugged him.

Close.

And didn't let go.

_A girl is hugging me._ Mob thought to himself as he just kind of sat there awkwardly. He didn't exactly know how to react in a good way and thus kept his arms glued to his side. He didn't want to touch her without permission after all.

Still. He had to admit it felt nice. Only his mother ever hugged him. And that was different. Yet similar. Both held the same affection and maybe even love.

"Master helped me find my own path." He said quietly. "He taught me so many important things. Like how it's bad to use my powers against people and that I should only use them against Grimm. There's enough hatred in the world, he said. And that I shouldn't be adding to it."

A small smile graced his lips.

"But because of that. I was able to make a bunch of new friends. Slowly, but surely, I escaped my shell. Master gave me hope. And I-"

He turned toward her.

"-I want to give you the same hope that Master gave me."

For a brief moment, his lack of response reminded her of the cold indifference that Adam would usually display for her more innocent physical gestures, but a simple thought shook her of those darker feelings. _Don't you remember how awkward he was when bumping into you? He's probably not used to this sort of thing._ And that was entirely different from how Adam would behave.

No, he would barely let her hug him before pushing her away.

_What did you say, again? Stop thinking about_ him _you dumbass! You have other, more important things to deal with right now. Like how the fucking amazing this guy is._

High praise from her darker thoughts, apparently. Which was impressive, honestly. "Hatred... the force that has caused so many issues for both my kind and others around them..." Master Reigen was right. _If only you'd heard about him sooner. Then maybe you wouldn't have... well. You know._

"I want to thank you, Mob. Talking with you... it has really opened my eyes and... I won't forget what you or your Master have said." Blake sighed as she slowly pulled away from him, brushing a few locks of her hair behind her ear. "But I need you to listen to what I have had to say too. Have a little more confidence, and I can see you going far in the Huntsman world. Gods know we could use better people out there. Nicer people. People that... People that someone like me can look up to like a beacon of-"

The low tingle of glass striking the leather of her boot broke her focus, drawing her amber eyes down toward the vial of Fire Dust that had just bumped into her, much like Mob. A cursory glance toward the bumbling crowds led her to notice a pair of girls, both in white, though one had white hair and the other had dark hair with streaks of red. The two seemed to be arguing, which, while may not have been loud to most, but her enhanced hearing made it sound like they were right in front of her.

Scooping up the vial, she looked to Mob. "I'm going to go return this, okay? I'll meet you at the opening ceremonies. What's your Scroll ID?"

"My Scroll ID?" Mob said. "It's 100."

And after they exchanged IDs, he watched her walk off into the crowd, feeling almost a bit sad. Still, he had made a new friend. And he'd most certainly have to tell his Master about that.

* * *

"...And that is why you shouldn't be sneezing around Dust!" That white haired girl from before, the heiress Weiss Schnee threw a pamphlet at that other girl and huffed off, which in and of itself brought a certain degree of sorrow to the Faunus girl as she made her way through the crowds. _Why was that Schnee so angry? That girl was apologizing left and right, it almost looked like she was going to have some sort of panic attack! it was a good thing you got there when you did._

Her perfectly timed interruption had helped mellow out the situation, though she still could not stop herself from taking a few gentle ribbings at the Schnee. It was her company that was responsible for a lot of Faunus discrimination, and, well. Old habits die hard.

But Blake did leave it at that. _Wow,_ thought her cynical side, _you really don't hate them. That Mob guy must've affected you even more than you thought._ Which of course made her lips turn in a small smile. He was a little awkward, but it was kind of... cute. And whenever he looked at her with those big eyes, it was like he actually cared...

Yeah, shocking. For the first time ever, a Faunus girl could have someone other than her family look on at her with some semblance of care and affection.

But for the Schnee- ahem, Weiss- Blake felt... well, pity. Something about Weiss' behavior felt off. Forced. _Was she just raised that way? To act like she's superior?_ It was a sad thought. Perhaps she would be able to talk to the girl at some time. They would no doubt be in some of the same classes and she would like to clear the air.

Perhaps she would talk to that other girl, too. It... It looked like she needed a friend.

And that's when the lights hit the stage and a certain man stepped to the podium, one she had seen before- or, well, one she had witnessed in the mind of another: Master Reigen. _Why's he-_ A flash of a memory not her own reminded her that this wasn't uncommon. Reigen would usually get wrapped up in schemes like this. He did have that teachery look to him.

Mob stared blankly at the podium in front of the students. "Master?"

The one who was standing there to address them was none other than Reigen Arataka, Mob's master. With the headmaster nowhere to be found.

The look on his Master's face told Mob that they had mistaken him for a member of faculty and dragged him inside. Wasn't the first time this happened.

Reigen, ever the improviser, cleared his throat.

"Welcome to Beacon Academy. My name is Reigen Arataka. I'm a Huntsman consultant. I'm an expert in the field of hunting Grimm and I was chosen to speak to you all today about the experiences you will be having here."

He was just repeating what that Glynda chick had told him. Seems he had been mistaken for some Pro huntsman. Didn't matter to him though! He was getting paid.

"I will begin by answering some questions."

A student in the first row raised his hand. "Yeah. I've got a question. Why are Faunus allowed in this school?"

Despite knowing that this was clearly not part of the plan, Blake merely decided to listen to master Reigan's words. That was, until some dunderhead in the back decided to raise his voice. His question struck her much like a blow to the head, and she almost instinctively drew her katana. But Mob's words held her fast- _There's enough hatred in the world._

Reigen tossed a book directly at the student's face before seamlessly resuming his speech. "Like I said. Does anyone have any questions?"

"And like I said." The student growled. "Why are trashy Faunus allowed in an elite school like this?"

"Ah. I get it." Reigen said. "You must be one of those kids who got let in through bribery. So I'll let you in on a little secret. In this world. Everyone starts at zero! There isn't anyone who is above another. We all work hard and rise through the ranks in society. It's hard work that determines our standing, not our birthright. If you want to know why they're here. It's because they worked hard to get in. Unlike you."

He pointed at the young man.

"Huntsman with an attitude like yours should just quit and go home. You'll only be a liability. Like you said. This is an elite school, not a daycare. I don't want to see any slacking!"

And he was right. Responding with hate, responding with violence... it would only give them what they wanted. Make Blake's people look like the monsters they claimed them to be. So she took her hand off her sword and waited.

And not long after, she got what she wanted. She had a feeling Reigen would strike his bigotry down, and while it may not be very morally high ground-y of her, she took a bit of satisfaction at Reigen's verbal smackdown.

* * *

"You knew from the start that he wasn't the one we hired." Glynda said through clenched teeth.

"I did." Ozpin said as he sipped his coffee. "But do you really think some sponsored huntsman would be so honest? This school is preparing these children for the real world. And who better to introduce them to it than someone who lives in it?"

Glynda scoffed. "And of all people it had to be him."

"I take it you know him?"

"Know him? I dated him in High School." She said with an eye roll. "He was a complete loser."

"Doesn't seem like much of a loser to me."

"Well that was awhile ago."

"Are you having regrets now?"

"Tread lightly, Ozpin. I'm in a bad mood."

"You're always in a bad mood."

"I will hit you."

"I've had worse."

* * *

"And I'll be taking one more question." Reigen said after a series of answering some mundane ones.

"Make it a good one."

* * *

A daycare.

That comment made Ruby Rose shiver in her white cloak. When she had made her way into the room, she thought she would find her sister and immediately sit with her, but instead she darted off with some of her old Signal friends.

And how could Ruby blame her? Sure, Yang was more than proud that her little sister had made it into Beacon early, but that didn't mean she was going to drop everything just to be at her sister's side. She had friends and a life outside of just being around for her sister, after all.

Yang was always the more social one. Better at talking to people, better at making friends. While she could make people eat out of the palm of her hand, laughing up all of her silly puns, Ruby would just be in the corner doing nothing. People... big crowds, like the group she was utterly surrounded in... they made her feel all scrunched up and panicked, like she was trapped in some sort of slowly shrinking cage. Like a trash compactor! And it didn't help that that Weiss girl didn't even listen to her. She had tried to apologize like a hundred times, even tried to explain that she does know about Dust. Like, a lot about Dust. But the older girl just... looked at her like she was nothing.

She, too, had said that Beacon wasn't a daycare.

Ruby tried to shake those thoughts from her head, tried to wrap her cloak tighter around her, to hide in the warm folds of her mother's loving embrace... but it wasn't enough. This feeling, this encompassing dread, it was weighing on her like a splitting headache. Should she run? Should just hide? Gods, she felt like she could toss her cookies then and there.

And then her Scroll vibrated.

Curiosity got the better of her and she put aside her nausea for a few moments to read the message. With a few clicks, she made it into the message app and her pale greenish features immediately lit up a bit- it was from Uncle Qrow! She could almost hear his voice in the message when she read it.

_I always knew you had it in ya, Kid. Knew it from the day you showed me your scythe designs that you were going to be unlike everyone else. Ruby, I want you to realize that these days people become Huntsmen and Huntresses for any number of reasons, and rarely for the right ones. But you. You have always wanted to be a Huntress to help people. Don't you ever forget that. Can't have you becoming a disappointment like me, got it?_

Ruby closed her silver eyes and scrunched her nose up, focusing hard on those words. She was doing this because she wanted to help people. It didn't matter that she was younger. It didn't matter how anyone treated her. She had made it here on her own merit, just like anyone else.

"I have a question!" she called out, her cloak billowing out around her as she took several steps forward, past a plain looking boy in black with a disturbingly annoying lack of weapons to admire.

And then of course everyone had to turn and look at her. The youngest girl in the room, sticking out like a sore thumb with her white cloak and red-fringed black combat dress.

She gulped. Why had she shouted so loudly anyway? And did she even really have a question? Stupid Ruby, stop making sounds with your mouth without thinking! Urgh. Okay, you can fix this. Just say something. Anything. Anything is better than silence.

"How..." Come on, say something! "How is the school planning to deal with security measures this year? Grimm aren't the only issues in this town. There's been a number of dust store robberies lately and the other people in town are feeling more and more on edge."

Holy butts, where did that come from? That was actually a well thought out question. Good job, brain.

"That's simple. You can leave that to me and my student." Reigen said as he pointed his thumb at himself. "We specialize in handling all sorts of threats. From Grimm to petty criminals."

Of course by that he meant that Mob would handle most of it.

"We can't let you students feel unsafe after all. So you can rest assured knowing we're on the case."

Oh? This pro Huntsman had a student? Cool! Must be a really strong fourth year or something. Probably some sort of internship. Dad had trained a few students in the past while she and Yang were busy at Signal, it wasn't uncommon for Huntsmen and Huntresses, both professional and retired, to take a student or two.

But it was good to know that this guy seemed keen on taking care of the crime, too, not just Grimm attacks. That old man at Dust Til Dawn looked pretty shaken up, and she would not be surprised if those goons came back. She had gotten lucky, being there when she was. She stopped them from taking all but the single Fire Dust crystal that Torchwick had used against her in that fight.

Mob was glad that his Master hadn't singled him out. That had been awkward. He did, however, catch the other girl's moment of weakness. Perhaps she had things on her mind too?

"God this sucks!" The rowdy student from before said as he chucked the book that he had been hit with earlier into the air. Unfortunately he had thrown it with such force that it slammed into a light fixture, knocking it loose and sending the structure tumbling down toward Ruby.

It would have hit her, had it not been stopped in mid-air.

"That's dangerous." Mob said, his arm extended, a blue light encasing the structure. "You should be more polite when someone else is asking questions."

He gently lowered it onto the ground, safely away from everyone else.

For that brief moment, his aura had spiked to unprecedented levels. His column of flame, so to speak, ignited into an inferno so large that it engulfed the entire room before returning to normal.

"Please. Let her continue speaking."

All around the room, whispers could be heard. Whispers of telekinesis. Whispers of Psionics.

"Is that him?"

"The rumored Esper?"

"You mean the one who supposedly saved an entire city by himself?"

"Someone like him is enrolling?"

"That gives me hope."

"I know right? We might have a chance after all."

"The Grimm don't stand a chance against an Esper!"

Once again, Mob had inspired hope. Be it directly or indirectly, his involvement would change the course of history.

That said. They completely overlooked Mob himself, not seeing him due to how plain he was and instead made up an image in their minds of how this legendary Esper looked.

The past few seconds were a blur in her mind. She had been about to reply to the man when that guy from before yelled out and tossed a book or something, but she realized it too late that such a simple action had left her in immediate danger.

And the sheer suddenness of it all had left her standing there motionless.

She would have died if that psychic pulse had not caught the light fixture when it did.

A wide eyed Ruby looked about wildly for the one that had saved her, instinctually tracking the flow of the Aura toward its destination and- Woah. The sheer pressure rising off that plain guy... His Aura felt like a raging inferno, not just some wimpy flame.

This plain guy, someone she had initially written off as a boring guy without a cool weapon, had saved her life. Using a power so rare she only heard about in storybooks.

Psionics. The ability to wield the power of the mind to such degrees that it left all other forms of Mental Manipulation Semblances in the dust. Illusion, Sensory Perception, Telekinesis, they were nothing compared to the power that could be wielded by a trained user of Psionics. Every so often some guy wanting fame and glory would step forward, claiming that he had that legendary power, but they were always taken down as frauds.

But here, Ruby had seen just what someone with that power could truly do. It was awe-inspiring, but also absolutely terrifying. If she had to hold that much bottled up power inside her, she might very well burst! To contain such energy, this plain looking boy had to be pretty gosh darn amazing.

She could have a lot to learn from him.

Silver eyes locked with his plain black, and mouthed a quick, "Thank you," to him.

* * *

Meanwhile, a certain Schnee stood slackjawed. Someone had just used such a stunning power, and she wanted to know who. Someone like that was worthy of becoming her partner! Yes, she knew that partners would be picked by some method and that teams would be formed. She wasn't some dolt, she'd done her research on Beacon's traditions long before applying.

But where could that energy have come from? The spike had been so quick, there had to be some way she could track it. But it was all over before she could reason much more than one side of the room over another. Drat.

Wait a second. There was an advanced technique that her sister knew, a sensory skill that could be used to detect the slight bits of lingering energy left behind from Aura spikes like that. If she could... Hmmm...

Daring to shut her eyes, Weiss allowed her senses to extend, and for a brief moment she felt like she was leaving her body. Not quite Astral Projection, but something similar. From this view, everything seemed to stand still, and she could see the crowd's burning Auras like a warm wash of light over their motionless forms.

Her own spirit seemed to take a form like that as well, a near fluidic outline of herself in icy blue. In this state, she soared through the crowd like a rush of icy wind, flashing over to the fancy light fixture. It was quite an expensive looking chandelier, but that trait was not something she needed to focus on. But what was worth noting were the wisps of green energy still wafting off of it. This intense green flame, yes, it had been what she sensed. Even in these dregs, she could feel the power that had once enveloped the light.

She doubted she could maintain this technique for very long, so she had to work with what she had available. Strong green Auras. That's what she needed to find.

And so her quest began, her spirit flashing from body to body, mingling briefly with the flaming outlines that possessed those traits. Her icy spirit had passed through nine bodies before she realized it could have belonged to only one. One she had passed over before, deeming it too weak.

The rather dull boy near the dolt- why that child was there if she needed to be saved by a student was certainly a thought on her mind, but for once she didn't have the time to focus on wastes of her time like that. But she digressed. That boy by the dolt, he had the exact same wafting lights around him. This... plain, unimpressive boy... How could it have been him? He didn't seem impressive at all! But Aura doesn't lie, no one else had that signature effect in their Aura.

A wave of exhaustion hit the girl when she finally relaxed, the frozen world of flaming spirits fading from her view. Felt like one of Atlas' biggest trucks had just plowed her over. If she was wasn't so used to sleepless nights, she may have collapsed on the spot. _Winter was right... I will need a long nap after that._

* * *

A small smirk had made its way onto Blake's face when she felt that surge of power again. _Sounds like Mob has a thing for helping out lost girls._ It wasn't a bad sight at all, honestly. It made her feel... kinda warm. Like when she had hugged him. She genuinely hoped that Mob could help that cloaked girl like he had helped her.

Maybe she should go see her too. She hadn't given her name when she had spoken to the girl and Weiss before, perhaps it would be good to share it.


End file.
